| 单词 | piddling |
| 释义 | piddling (once / 39663 pages) adj If your part time job pays badly, you might describe your income as piddling, or insignificant. Why does English have so many words for suggesting that something is contemptibly small? The adjective piddling is a favorite choice when sums of money are concerned; a more dignified, but no less contemptuous word, is paltry. Piddling comes from piddle, which has changed in meaning over the years — in the early 1600's it meant "pick at one's food," while by the late 1700's it meant "to urinate." WORD FAMILYpiddle: piddled, piddles, piddling USAGE EXAMPLES“The Gestapo was piddling compared with the size and reach of surveillance equipment and operations today,” says Mazower. The Guardian(Dec 01, 2016) He is not interested in anyone’s piddling attempts to score the basketball. New York Times(Nov 14, 2016) Treasuries and the government securities of other advanced economies, is earning piddling rates of return. New York Times(Oct 24, 2016) adj (informal) small and of little importance Syn fiddling, footling, lilliputian, little, niggling, petty, picayune, piffling, trivial unimportant not important |
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